High Court starts contempt of court proceedings against IAS officer, Punjab CEO Sibin C

CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Sibin C IAS would face contempt of court proceedings in the Punjab and Haryana High Court in a case related to denial of promotion benefit to a petitioner who was granted benefit by the High Court and upheld by the Supreme court.

The High Court has started suo moto contempt proceedings against Sibin C IAS, the then Special Secretary in Rural Development and Panchayat department of Punjab government. The High Court has observed that he (Sibin C) has apparently 'over reached the process of the court' in a service matter.

The bench of Justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma and Justice Sudeepi Sharma also ordered to issue notice to the Punjab Chief Secretary and asked the registry to prepare formal contempt proceedings against him as well. The court also said that if orders of the court were implemented the officer concerned need not to be present in the court.

The petition was filed by B.K.Dhir through his counsel Harpal Singh Sirohi and Abhiraj Singh Baweja. The bench observed that Sibin C had knowingly stated that payment was not due to the petitioner in spite of fact that Joint Director's pay scale was higher that Deputy Director and much higher than officiating additional Director. The petitioner was to be fixed in the scale of Joint Director from May 1, 1993 and thereafter in the pay scale of additional director on July 1, 1993. Sibin C's orders are dated April 13, 2018 un which he denied the benefits.

The court said that "We therefore initiate suo moto contempt proceedings against the officer concerned under article 215 of the constitution and direct Sibin C to file his reply. The case will now come up last week of July 2024.